WEEK ONE 2 – 9 August
Chamber Orchestra
John Gibbons conductor
soloist Paul Vowles bass clarinet
leader Elizabeth French
This popular course returns under the baton of its “passionate” and “erudite” conductor, John Gibbons. The orchestra is intended to meet the needs of music students and very experienced amateurs and will play a wide range of repertoire, some familiar, some unusual, from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
“Please ask John Gibbons back; he was brilliant.”
Rehearsals will centre around the monumental ‘Eroica’ symphony of Beethoven. By contrast, we will give the premiere of Paul Vowles’ fascinating and stunningly rich ‘Hesiod’s Theogony’ for Bass Clarinet and orchestra. The colourful and ever-popular ‘Galanta Dances’ of Kodaly join with yet another statement of folk inspired genius, the ‘Wasps Overture’ of Vaughan Williams. Bizet’s evocation of the facets of childhood, his ‘Jeux d’enfants’, is contrasted with Max Reger’s rarely heard, ‘Commedia dell’arte’ influenced, ‘Ballet Suite’ Op.130. The programme concludes with Prokofiev’s ‘Sinfonietta, Op.5/48‘ which is drawn from the same stock as his Classical Symphony, light in character and infused with sumptuous twists of harmony.
During the week, some players may also be invited to play in the repertoire orchestras formed to work with the conductors’ course under the direction of the eminent conductor and teacher Robert Houlihan.
A major public concert will be given at the end of the week with a programme selected from the works below. To ensure a place in the orchestra, early application is recommended.
Repertoire
Beethoven Symphony No.3 in E flat major, Op.55 (Eroica)
Vowles Hesiod’s Theogony, Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra
Vaughan Williams Overture, The Wasps
Reger Ballet Suite, Op.130
Kodaly Galanta Dances
Bizet Jeux d’enfants
Prokofiev Sinfonietta, Op.5/48
Other orchestral courses at Sherborne this summer
Wind Ensemble (2 – 9 August)
Sinfonia (2 – 9 August)
Symphony Orchestra (9 – 16 August)